Katniss Borden Took An Axe
by WizMonCruWil
Summary: I was inspired by several things for this fic. First of all, in light of the Kavanaugh hearings, I wanted to shine a light on women and sexual assault. I also wanted to depict Katniss as a housewife, as the wife of some miner. Lastly, I had a desire to do a crossover with Katniss and Bella. This story is VERY mature. Proceed with caution when reading. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Forced

**Chapter 1: Forced**

The sky is only just beginning to grey as I arrive at the Hob in my blue Reaping dress. I wish I was in my hunting gear, but Mother had set out those clothes to wash. And I can't afford to miss a day of hunting.

The best market for the Hob is actually just before sunrise. Not many hunters or traders know this, but it's true. You are guaranteed to make a bargain, even more than at high noon, because all the miners gather in the Hob for breakfast just before going down into the depths for a day's work.

I see many of these miners mingling in the black market as I enter, and more than one of them turn their heads when they see me in my blue Reaping dress. I avert my eyes self-consciously. I do not like these men's attentions, no matter whether it comes with the territory of living in District 12, the poorest district in Panem. I should not be made to consider frivolous things like romance or marriage or sex or childbirth when I am only 17 years old.

I take a seat at Greasy Sae's stall. She has always been one of my favorite clients. As I dig into my bowl of soup, I feel a presence collapse onto the stool beside me.

"Morning, Katniss."

I turn my head and nod in acknowledgement. "Morning, Thom."

Thom Borden is my age, and one of the youngest miners on the digging crew. Technically, district law stipulates that no man or woman is to enter the mines until they turn 18, but the Bordens are from a long line of miners. And from what I've heard, Thom already shows promise and skill at the profession. Everyone says he has a bright future ahead of him in the business.

"Got your hunt already in? Or will you go again?"

I shrug noncommittally. "I probably will. Bag some squirrels. The Baker loves them."

Thom chuckles. "Trading with Merchants? You're braver than I am!"

"They're not all bad," I try to defend. And it's true, the Baker is a kind man. His wife is an entirely different story.

"Miners! Fall out!" The Foreman bellows.

Around us, I watch as miners fall into the arms of their spouses, sharing passionate kisses and loving looks. In this business, it is an open question whether all of the miners present here will make it home for dinner.

As I stand off of my stool, I hear Thom ask, "How about one for luck?" His question makes me turn.

"Excuse me?" I gawp, but before I can react further, Thom has pressed my body up against his, pressing me against the stall, as he takes my face in his hands and kisses me full on the mouth. "Mmmm!" I squeak into his mouth, muffled, my eyes wide.

The kiss lasts for a moment, two, before ending just as quickly as it began. Thom smiles, turns on his heel and walks away. I stand there, speechless, long after the miners have filed out.

Despite having my first kiss wrenched from me, I continue to make early-morning trades at the Hob. And I continue to encounter Thom.

The second time he kisses me, I push him away.

The third time he kisses me, I slap him good and hard.

The fourth time he kisses me, he gropes my ass and my breasts.

The fifth time he kisses me, I kiss him back, hoping that might appease him. It doesn't.

The sixth time he kisses me, he pins me against the nearest stall, throws me onto the counter, and has his way with me for a good, solid fuck. I lie there, exhausted from fighting to no avail, as he rapes me.

One evening, weeks later, I come home from hunting to find my mother staring at me with a glance that almost resembles pity. That is when she takes me aside and tells me she has agreed to give Thom Borden my hand in marriage. I cry, scream at her that this is unfair, because it is. From the way Mother refuses to meet my gaze, she knows it is too. She knows my opinions on not wanting to get married, ever. But to give me away to Thom Borden, of all men. We're only 17!

"It is time for you to grow up, Katniss," she tells me as firmly as she can. "You must be a wife and a mother. I have to know that you will be taken care of."

She will not budge on this. I am doomed.

* * *

Mother requests that I wear her Merchant wedding dress to get married in. For the more civil ceremony at the Justice Building, I sign the marriage license in my blue Reaping dress, feeling as though a gun is pointed against the back of my head.

I marry Thom Borden in my mother's living room, and we Toast a bit of bread by the fire. Thom takes me in his arms roughly. I refuse to cry, as I tilt my head and permit my new husband to kiss me. He kisses me rather sloppily, shoving his tongue down my throat and audaciously feeling me up in front of my family.

And just like that, I am Mrs. Katniss Borden.

That night, in our assigned house, in our marriage bed, Thom fucks me long and hard and without mercy.

* * *

Every morning, I now rise to hunt and cook my husband breakfast. I see Thom off to work, when he indecently kisses me goodbye. It is with great disappointment that he kisses me just as indecently every evening upon his return, with supper waiting on the table. The hardest sunsets are when he comes home alive after a mine collapse or fire. I almost wish that the man I married is among the dead, in these instances.

So, I find it a relief, almost, when the following summer, I am Reaped at age 18 for the 76th Annual Hunger Games. District 12 has only produced two champions in this annual fight to the death. And our most recent Victor is from decades ago and a slobbering drunk besides. Haymitch Abernathy will be of no help to me in the arena, and I don't want him to be anyway. I'm as good as dead.

Thom of course comes to say goodbye to me. He kisses me farewell, one last time, and I actually return the kiss, not wanting to upset him. He ruins the moment by trying to have sex with me right there in the holding room. I practically have to shove him into the Peacekeepers' custody when they come to collect him.

When Mother and Primrose come visit me, I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I am going to die in the arena. But something my baby sister says makes me take pause. Through tears, she begs, "Just try to win, if you can!"

And I know, because of Prim - the one person whom I am certain I love - I'll have to.

* * *

 **A/N: I have NEVER struggled this much in writing a chapter. Writing about this subject matter, especially the day after Christine Blasey Ford's testimony…. If this chapter disgusts you, good. It should. That is what it was designed to do. It disgusts me too. Women should NEVER be treated this way, or in the way that Dr. Ford was.**


	2. Chapter 2: Housekeeper

**Chapter 2: Housekeeper**

"Hello, beautiful!" Thom slurs, coming home drunk after partying at the Hob upon the close of his mining shift. He forcibly and drunkenly kisses me, bending me back over the stove where I have been cooking dinner. I squirm and groan in protest in his embrace, already feeling his dirty hands on my skin, my dress.

"Mmmm..." I wrench my lips free and yank myself out of the embrace, shoving my husband into our kitchen table.

"I want you to shower, and come down for dinner... sober," I demand.

"Sure, love," Thom staggers for the stairs. "Hey, tonight, let's make a baby!"

I ignore him as he disappears upstairs. "Let's not..." I growl under my breath. Thom has been trying to get me pregnant ever since I got home.

Perhaps somewhat against my better judgement, I put up a fight in the Hunger Games. I survived the Bloodbath... then into the Final Eight... then the Final Four... At the Top Two, I intended to go down defiantly against the monstrous Career from District 1. But when he tried to rape me on live television, the flashbacks to Thom actually had an enraging effect on me, so that I stabbed him to death after getting a grip on his own sword.

Unfortunately, this logic was completely lost on my idiot husband. The fucker is proud as punch - for himself - that he is married to the third Victor from District 12, and now gets to live in a giant mansion. I'm surprised he didn't promptly quit his job as a miner. And he might have, if my Victory hadn't prompted his promotion to Miner Foreman, a lifelong dream of his. This unfortunately means that his chances of getting blown to bits in a mine collapse have now gone way down. The Miner Foreman remains above-ground unless he has to conduct an inspection.

I have thought of leaving my husband. Don't think I haven't. I'm so filthy stinking rich now, and with a new status as a mentor, that I don't need him. But Thom has a temper which leads to him being sexually abusive. And if I divorced him, Mother would not approve. Besides, divorces are rare in District 12, very rare. Because if you don't marry for love, you marry for economic dependency. Or your marriage is arranged, as mine was. Some couples who are betrothed or marry for economics eventually turn that partnership into romantic love. Many don't. Just look at the Baker and his wife. How they had three sons together is beyond me. The oldest is married - arranged, of course - and the other two died in the Hunger Games, in years previous to mine.

My only freedom has been escaping into the woods to hunt while Thom is at work. And, of course, I will have an escape when I will return to the Capitol to mentor my first Games this coming summer. My winter Victory Tour was a welcome reprieve, but the two weeks far too short.

I miss hunting with a partner - my best friend Gale tragically perished in a mine explosion just after I won the Hunger Games. He was one of the few present at my wedding. Hell, I miss having a partner who understands and respects me. Going into the Seam to visit Primrose is something to look forward to (my interactions with Mother have been cold and distant since I wed), but even that is not the same.

Which is why I have taken an unusual step.

Of the three Victors from District 12, I know that Haymitch has never hired a housekeeper. His mansions always looks like a bomb went off in it. Though old and abandoned and covered in cobwebs, the former abode of Cassiope Fletch (Victor of the 16th Hunger Games and long dead) was apparently well-kept, by the Victor herself throughout her life. But for me, hiring a housekeeper is more than practical. It gets me out of most domestic, housewifery chores - Thom may not like it, but who cares? And if the stupid fucker does raise any objection, I can simply tell him we have the money to do so. And besides, I have more time free to hunt. And someone other than my sexually-addicted husband to talk to.

I have already seen a few applicants while my husband has been at work. Another one will be meeting with me tomorrow, here in Victor's Village. I have never met her, but I hope I can hire her.

* * *

Mid-morning the next day, I answer the knock at my door. On the other side is the latest applicant to be my housekeeper.

"Good morning. What's your name?"

The young lady curtsies. "Ms. Bella Swan, ma'am. At your service."

Bella Swan clearly looks Seam, from her simple clothes. But that is where the key indicators end. She has deep, chocolate-brown eyes, instead of the standard Seam grey. Pale skin, rather than an olive tone, like mine. Her brown hair is short, done up in a bun. And she has already dressed the part for her interview, in a black frock and white apron super-imposed over it.

I usher the young lady in. She has apparently served as a housekeeper before, exclusively for Merchant families. She apparently is an excellent worker. She was fired once, by the Mellarks, but I don't take much stock in that. Everyone knows the Witch's reputation, and I would safely bet most of my Hunger Games winnings that Bella was cast out on some bullshit excuse and whatever the transgression that warranted the firing was, it was the Witch's fault.

So I shake Bella's hand, and tell her, "You're hired. Can you start tomorrow?"

Bella readily agrees.


	3. Chapter 3: Before We Kiss

**Chapter 3: Before We Kiss**

I have Bella arrive at my mansion in Victor's Village just after opening time at the mines, so she can avoid seeing as little of my husband as possible. I sadly can't make the same guarantee for evenings, as Bella is still working by the time Thom gets home from work at night. The first time he saw her, Thom was a little dismayed that we hired help, but I tell him to get used to Bella's presence. Because he lets me handle all the finances, Thom doesn't question me.

As the weeks pass, Bella and I gradually get to know one another. She grew up poor, in the Seam, living in a house close to the Merchant-Seam line. Given that I grew up closer to the District fence and the mines, it makes sense that I would have never crossed paths with her. I eventually learn that Bella is the illegitimate daughter of a Peacekeeper cadet. Her conception was apparently at the hands of rape, her mother a Seam weaver. I feel sick at the story, and my heart goes out to her. District 12 Peacekeepers are often sexually predatory, sent here to the hardest district when other districts can't handle their behavior. Peacekeepers live a militarized lifestyle that forbids that they marry or have sexual relations. But because our Head Peacekeeper, Cray, has a flagrant disregard for the rules, sexual assault at the hands of his men is a common occurrence. Even more common is how nothing is done to address these crimes. In the case of Bella's father, he was a rare exception, in that his sexual misdeeds were apparently so notorious, that Cray was pressured to transfer him out of District 12; the bastard was re-stationed when Bella was a baby.

Bella's past makes me open up about my own unhappy marriage, how my mother betrayed me and sold me off to a man who had sexually harassed and raped me. It comes as a shock when Bella expresses honestly:

"And now you're a Victor, ma'am. You have fought past it. We women all look up to you." I don't feel worthy of the praise. I feel I might deserve it more if I were able to somehow get my husband out of the picture.

The last of winter melts into spring. Spring eventually heats into summer. I feel my first Reaping as a mentor approaching with an increasing sense of dread. In this, too, Bella offers her support.

One morning, the day before the Reaping, Bella is cleaning as usual, and Thom is at work. As I pass my servant on the stairs, I feel her hand brush mine, daring to give it a squeeze. I turn back to look at her, and our eyes lock. Within Bella's gaze, I can see her attempt to calm me. She knows the Reaping is tomorrow, and though she can't possibly understand it, she knows what I must be feeling. At this moment, I am more grateful for her friendship than I have ever been.

I continue upstairs to Thom's and my room, selecting what I will wear for tomorrow's Reaping and fussing in front of the mirror. A creak by the door alerts me to Bella's presence as she tentatively approaches.

"Downstairs bathroom is all clean, ma'am. I'll be starting on the kitchen next, if it pleases you."

I nod. "Thank you, Bella."

My loyal friend drifts closer. "Prim won't be picked, ma'am. You have to let yourself believe that."

Bella is right before me now, much too close, her warm and soothing presence drawing me in, in spite of myself.

We are inches apart now, and I gaze into Bella's chocolate eyes, my own grey orbs, filling with tears. " _Thank you_ ," I shakily whisper. I feel my eyelids flutter, grow heavy. Dipping her head, Bella suddenly captures my lips between hers in a long, sensual kiss.

Any thoughts of how this is wrong, that I am married and have a husband, that kissing someone of the same gender is forbidden in Panem, fly out the window as I close my eyes and kiss Bella back. I feel a stirring awakening inside of me as I realize that the sensation of another woman's lips pressed against my own tastes... _good_.

I open my mouth wide to Bella, granting entrance when her tongue swishes out to tickle my bottom lip. I feel my own tongue dragged into her maw and there they sit, dancing against each other as they grapple for power. Bella and I begin to kiss more passionately, our hands clutching at each other and soon shedding clothing as we begin to back up towards the bed I share with my husband. Bella presses me down into the mattress as she straddles me, her lips springing from mine as she begins to plant kisses all along my face and neck. I close my eyes in rapture.

Bella's hands are quickly squeezing my bare breasts with a tender earnestness, and these delicate fingers are soon replaced by her mouth. She dips one finger into my dripping wet folds, then another, as she strokes my clit. Moaning, groaning, I begin to buck my whole body into her, shaking with pleasure as I accept her sexual attentions in a way that I have not since before I was married. No, not since before I was married - _ever_. I have _never_ wanted sex in the way that I do now with this woman - not even when I would sometimes get drunk to bear sleeping with my husband, or lying beneath him and counting the ceiling tiles as he fucked me.

"Uhhh... Ohhhh... Gods... Bella..." My jaw hangs slack and my entire frame shakes, quivers, as I feel Bella take my nub in her mouth and suck. My walls, knees, clench around her face, as with a cry - "BELLA!" I cum on her lips. My lover licks me clean.

Once I come down from my high and I feel my strength renewed, I flip us and kiss Bella in a way that I have never, ever kissed anyone - not even my husband Thom. I swallow her one breast in my mouth, taking the pink, erect nipple between my teeth and gnawing on it. I do the same for her vagina, burying my head between Bella's legs.

As my new paramour and I make love, we do not notice how a miner friend of my husband's - taking a shortcut on his walk home from a half-day shift - witnesses our entire kiss in the open window and can hear the sounds of our lovemaking.


	4. Chapter 4: Retaliation

**Chapter 4: Retaliation**

 **Bella's POV**

My head is still spinning when Katniss leaves for the Reaping and the Capitol the next morning. It pains me to have to miss her for a couple of weeks, left behind all alone to continue keeping house with only her monstrous husband for company.

I have known since my earliest days that I was lesbian. That I was attracted to women. Many men would lust after me when I was a young girl, but I paid them no mind. This only makes me wonder whether Katniss fully knows that she too is homosexual. Did she know that about herself, and marry a man so as to hide who she was, no matter how boorish he is? Or perhaps she is bisexual, and took a husband because her taking a wife is forbidden in this country. It is something I will have to ask her when she returns from the Hunger Games.

Thankfully, I only ever have to interact with Thom Borden when he returns in the evenings from the mines. The evening of the Reaping, he returns from a shortened shift at the mine (miners have the morning off for the Reaping, as is the custom). From the way he stumbles into the mansion, it is clear he has been drinking. I do my best to ignore him as I continue sweeping the kitchen floor.

"Think you can fuck my wife, you disgusting faggot?"

I freeze mid-sweep. "Excuse me, sir?"

"You heard me." Thom stalks nearer; I can feel his breath at my back. "My buddy Dalton saw you kissing my wife. Heard you both moaning in heat. Think you can get away with that? You'll be out on the street when I tell the Peacekeepers!" All at once, I feel his one hand slip about my waist and pull me flush against him, so that I can feel his stiff erection grinding into my ass. Thom licks at my earlobe.

"I'll show you, you dyke slut!"

I open my mouth to scream but before I can, Thom claps a hand over my mouth. Spinning me around, he replaces his hand with his lips, kissing me roughly. I struggle, trying to push him away, but his arms are like iron. "Mmmm... MMMMMM! No... no... _no_! NOOOOO!"

Thom picks me up as if I weigh nothing and carries me, thrashing all the way, upstairs to his bedroom. Throwing me down on the bed he shares with his wife, he rips off my clothes and forces my knees apart, settling in between my legs before he slams into me. I cry out in pain, but my shout is quickly dampened by Thom's hand over my mouth.

Thom angrily thrusts into me, over and over again, ripping my insides. This is revenge... he is not showing any mercy as he fucks me, rapes me. Pinned underneath him, my strength finally gives out from fighting to break free, and I lie there limply until with a disgusting shudder, Thom ejaculates into me. A moment later, he passes out.

With the last of my fortitude, I shove his unconscious body off my naked form, hurriedly dress and flee the mansion in tears.

* * *

I only return to Victor's Village out of loyalty to Katniss. I encounter Thom on the evening after his assault, and he appears to not remember the incident. He was definitely drunk... I can still smell the alcohol on his breath... After that evening, I make sure to finish cleaning and leave by the time Thom returns from the mines. I keep waiting for my employment to be terminated, for the Peacekeepers to come for me, but neither occurs. I do not speak of my rape to anyone.

Until Katniss returns from the Games, empty-handed without a Victor. Though it was too much to hope for a second consecutive win, I didn't expect much from this year's Games. Dragging Katniss into her mansion, behind closed doors, we kiss hungrily.

"Your husband..." I pant between desperate kisses. "... knows about us. When... you were gone... he attacked me... he raped me."

Katniss twists away with such a sudden jerk that I fear her ire is directed at me. I gaze at her as she shakes with rage, hot tears pricking her eyes as she vows:

"That's the last fuck Thom Borden will ever get."

* * *

The house is dark and quiet as the sun completes its setting over the hills of District 12. The gloom now permeating the mansion is only interrupted by the creak of the front door, the piercing light from the streetlamp beyond, as Thom enters the house.

"Katniss, love?"

THUNK.

The arrow I fire lodges right in Thom's stomach and he stumbles back. I hear him about to roar in pain, but it is soon deadened, as Katniss slams the front door shut, plunging us almost into total darkness. I hear scuffles and grunts as Katniss tackles her husband to the ground. I fish around for a candle and match, lighting the wick to find Katniss straddling her terrified husband, the blade of an axe held high in her hand. My gaze locks with the woman I love for only a moment, and I nod.

"Do it."

Katniss brings the blade down hard on Thom's head. He screams in agony, so she hits him again. Again. Again. Whacking his body with abandon, until his body stops flopping around and he lies still. Bashing his head one last time, she rises almost gracefully off her dead husband. There is no emotion, or remorse in her face.

"It's done," she says.

I call the Peacekeepers. Upon discovery of the body, Katniss and I report that her husband came at Katniss with an axe and she shot him with an arrow in self-defense. When he persisted, Katniss was forced to subdue him and bludgeon him to death with his own axe.

As a Victor, Katniss is a national celebrity. A national hero. Victors cannot be touched, legally. Not prosecuted. And besides, Katniss has killed before, in an entire arena. Having her deliver the fatal blow was strategic, so that she cannot be prosecuted. I maintain that I was only a witness. The case is closed as one of self-defense.


	5. Chapter 5: Two Women in Love

**Chapter 5: Two Women in Love**

Weeks after Thom Borden's death, I suddenly begin getting sick. I feel my stomach grow rounder and my breasts balloon with a mother's milk. It is with great horror and sadness that I discover I am pregnant. Knocked up at the hands of Thom's rape. It is after much persuasion that Katniss convinces me to keep the child. Here is a chance for the two of us to be parents, for our baby to have two parents who truly love it. Its father will never be spoken of.

After Thom Borden is buried, Katniss steals a marriage license from the Justice Building. We both sign it, and in the dead of night, I don Katniss's mother's wedding dress over my round tummy. Katniss dons her blue Reaping dress. By the light of a fire and the full moon, Katniss Everdeen and I get married in the living room of her mansion. Sharing a Toasted bit of bread with each other, we seal our marriage with a romantic kiss.

All that night, my wife and I moan and groan and sweat as we make raw, untamed love in our new bed. The bed used by Thom and Katniss was burned.

* * *

 **Katniss's POV**

I sit in the Meadow in my sundress as I watch my wife, Bella, play with our son among the tall grasses.

Bella lives with me now, in my mansion in Victor's Village. She is still officially my housekeeper, and also serves as a "nanny" for our little boy, Charlie. If people suspect that Bella is really my wife and the other mother of my child, they do not say. Though it pains me to do so, Bella and I have hidden our marriage well. I am well aware that we are playing a game, in a sense.. But as I well know, there are much worse games to play.

Neither my wife nor I have ever been punished for the death of my husband, Thom Borden. The exact circumstances have never been revealed to the public of District 12, either. All the same, that has not stopped rumors that I murdered him from spreading. Even the Seam children, skipping rope outside of school, have come with a rhyme, a theory for what I did. They might never know how close to the mark it is:

 _"Katniss Borden took an axe and gave her husband forty whacks. When she saw what she had done. she gave him 'nother forty-one."_


End file.
